The Little Mermaid is a beautiful love story. A coming-of-age tale of a young mermaid who not only wishes to be part of the forbidden human world, but also whose love for a human prince is so powerful that everything pales in comparison, including the “hot crustacean band” under the sea.
And so what makes this 2023 live-action reimagining of the 1989 Disney animated masterpiece different is how it emphasizes the love story between Ariel (Halle Bailey) and Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King), creating more room for romantic development.
The film dives deeper into Eric’s yearnings and frustrations — even giving him a backstory — making his character fleshed-out and more realistic. He is also given a mother here, played by Noma Dumezweni.
Here, Eric and Ariel are intellectually compatible, with common interests. Both are driven by a great sense of adventure and a burning need to explore other worlds. They feel trapped and are also similarly raised in a single-parent home. Their shared values, experiences and passions make it plausible for Eric to reciprocate Ariel’s love even if she could not speak.
This time, Disney goes beyond physical attraction and decides to focus on what makes two people fall in love with each other for real. And by cleverly tweaking the source material, the love story between the dashing young prince and the rebellious mermaid — considering Eric has only three days to love Ariel back and seal it with the kiss of true love — becomes convincing.
But even with richly drawn characters and a more profound love story, the star herself, Bailey, is a disappointingly stoic and rigid Ariel. Bailey is not only self-conscious of the camera — she is also clearly more focused on her powerful and impressive vocals, tragically sacrificing emotional nuances in her performance.
Bailey’s expressionless face is frustrating, considering how committed the good-looking Hauer-King is in his portrayal of the sensitive and hopelessly romantic Prince Eric.
Meanwhile, the versatile Melissa McCarthy as Ursula is terrific, making her performance as the jealous, vindictive, megalomaniac sea witch worth every penny of your movie ticket.
Forget about Flounder (Jacob Tremblay) because he’s pushed to the backseat; quite understandably since this is live action and a fish’s movements are very limited.
Sebastian (voice-acted by Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs) remains to be a major supporting character with the herculean job of saving himself and the mermaid princess, alongside Scuttle (Awkwafina), the “human expert” seagull.
Worlds and cultures merge in this modern remake, and multiculturalism is confusingly forced; it completely disregards genetics by combining different ethnicities and species among families without any explanation. Even Ursula, a squid, and King Triton, a merman, are siblings.
Some songs from the original are deleted to make way for new songs (with compositions from Lin-Manuel Miranda), which are thankfully more essential to the plot. Prince Eric is given his moment to sing about his longings, Scuttle is made to rap to report a breaking news, and Ariel — in her non-speaking stage — sings in her mind (which works in her favor as she has a wooden expression).
Essentially, The Little Mermaid is faithful to the source material, with plenty of dialogue copy-pasted from the animated classic. It still touches on themes of parenting, with the overprotective Triton learning a thing or two about truly paying attention to his youngest kid. The modifications are acceptable — except for Bailey, who was cast solely for her super vocals as if the movie is a concert, not a drama.
Since this is live-action, it would be foolish to expect to see the same liveliness and buoyancy of the original animated film, because cartoon movements are naturally exaggerated and impossible to be replicated by actual living people and creatures.
The Little Mermaid is darker and more dramatic than its cartoon predecessor, and it succeeds chiefly because its flaws are compensated by its many triumphs. Bailey lacks acting skills (but you can also blame director Rob Marshall for that), but then she is truly a great singer and sounds like the original Ariel. While she is impassive, Eric is swoon-worthy.
Flounder is insignificant here, but Scuttle is delightful. Ariel is somewhat indifferent to her loving father, but McCarthy’s Ursula is just so fantastic that a second viewing is warranted just to rewatch her version of “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”
And, of course, the timeless music and lyrics from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman still provide goosebumps. Overall, The Little Mermaid is worth the watch — entertaining throughout, with an upgraded Disney fairytale romance.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Now showing in cinemas